Swampmeat Family Band - Too Many Things To Hide

“Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep”! Anybody (old enough to) still remember this one? The point is not the song, but the name of the band - Middle of The Road. I’m afraid that was the first thing that came to mind when listening to Swampmeat Family Band’s debut album Too Many Things To Hide. Maybe this quartet has too many things to hide, and on the evidence of this album, they’re still hiding them. Maybe a bit too well.

They used to be Swampmeat and now they became a family. The original members, Daniel Finnemore and T-Bird Jones brought in Richard March (Bentley Rhythm Ace) and Tommy Hughes (Terror Watts). You see, I have absolutely no problem with the Southern rock these guys mainly delve in, and they obviously have all the necessary chops in their pinky fingers. But then, that is actually the problem. It is miles away from being boring or bland, but it simply makes you shrug your shoulders and say, ok, what else?

Their press release mentions that they try to move into some new directions like ’70 country soul (“Downhome Girl”) and glam pop (“Suzie Stop Saucing”), but you only get inklings of those, of course, whether you want to hear them (the country soul variations) or not (glam pop). But it is quite obvious that they are true catfish in those southern swamp waters like on the opener “Long Way Down”, the title track or the rocking Creedence Clearwater Revival-like “The Wire” (probably the best track on the album).

It is obvious that the guys have the chops, and it is also obvious that they can come up with some new ideas to make their sound fresh. They just haven’t gotten there at the moment. And they obviously can. Luckily, they haven’t gone too much over the half an hour mark, making you go through the album without any difficulty.

But the key problem of general indifference when you listen to Too Many Things To Hide remains. Next time around stop playing hide and seek. You can come up with the goods.